Burma's generals go too far

The fear with which Burma's powerful ruling military junta regards one courageous 62-year-old woman is something to see. That fear could be its undoing.

Fear of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy who has been under house arrest for most of the past 19 years, was clearly behind the recent ruling of a puppet Burmese court that she had violated the terms of her confinement by receiving a deranged and physically ill American visitor who illegally swam to her residence. The result: 18 more months of house arrest, confining Ms. Suu Kyi until after national elections scheduled for 2010.

Under a rigged constitution, Ms. Suu Kyi is ineligible to run in the planned elections, as are some 2,000 of her followers who have been locked up since her party won free elections in 1990 by an overwhelming margin.

But the junta, led by senior Gen. Than Shwe, evidently fears that army control of the streets and a rigged constitution will not be enough to prevent a massive popular vote against the government if Ms. Suu Kyi is free to travel about the country.

That is because she has a mythic stature in Burma rivaling that of Joan of Arc in medieval France: daughter of the man revered as the father of Burmese independence, a strong advocate of democracy, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and widely beloved, her public presence in 2004 drew huge crowds even when the army was present.

The sentence against Ms. Suu Kyi drew predictably strong protests from the United States and the European Union. But it also led Burma's Southeast Asian neighbors to lodge an unprecedented protest and consider a recommendation that they jointly demand Burma free Ms. Suu Kyi and permit her to participate in next year's election.

They should issue that demand. Gen. Than Shwe has already incurred the displeasure of China, Burma's main protector against international sanctions, by shooting protesting monks in 2007. Following that incident, China allowed the U.N. Security Council to issue several statements warning Burma to follow international law as well as Burmese law by freeing Ms. Suu Kyi.

Now the generals are in a bind. If Ms. Suu Kyi is killed on their watch it will unleash an international outrage not even China could stop. If they hold the elections while detaining Ms. Suu Kyi, the result will be denounced around the world as illegitimate. If they allow Ms. Suu Kyi to participate, they face humiliation.

Heads she wins, tails they lose. No wonder they fear her.